Case Study
Santander Breakthrough Live: Belinda Roberts, WeDO Scotland
B
By Dan Matthews elinda
founder
Roberts, of
n et w o rki n g group
Scotland,
attended Santander’s recent Breakthrough Live event in Edinburgh. Here she explains what inspired her about the event and offers fellow entrepreneurs some advice of her own.
Belinda Roberts, founder of entrepreneur networking group WeDo Scotland, was invited to attend Santander’s Breakthrough Live event when it rolled into Edinburgh in late October. Belinda has a proven entrepreneurial background, having set up, grown and sold her sales and management training company, Optimum Proactive Training Limited, a few years ago. After a short spell helping to integrate her business into its new parent company, Belinda quickly came to the conclusion that she was ‘unemployable’ and set about looking for a new business venture to start up. “I felt there was a gap in the market, in Edinburgh particularly, for a networking organisation with a difference,” she explains. “It’s invite- only and it gives entrepreneurs a forum to share experiences and knowledge.”
“We organised a few events which were well-received,” she says. “We have a ‘no sales’ policy, so it is genuinely a learning experience rather than an opportunity to sell to one another. We have more than 130 members now and our Annual Awards are now a recognised event in the Scottish business calendar.” Belinda says she attended the Breakthrough Live event because she feels it is important to keep up to date with businesses in the area, as well as understand the support being
30 entrepreneurcountry WeDO Belinda Roberts
offered to smaller businesses by large companies like Santander.
“I love the Breakthrough programme,” says Belinda. “It’s not something I have seen being offered by any other bank, nor other blue chips or even public sector organisations. They had some fantastic speakers who were hugely inspiring and their stories were fascinating, plus it was a great networking opportunity.”
The Edinburgh event featured also featured presentations from Petra Wetzel, the founder and Managing Director of Scottish brewery WEST. “Petra was great,” says Belinda. “It was really interesting to hear about the evolution of her business and her move from being a lawyer into the brewing industry, two very contrasting sectors. She was also extremely funny.” Another inspirational speaker was Bonamy Grimes, Director and co-founder of
Skyscanner, the
most visited flight search website in Europe. “Bonamy was extremely interesting too,
especially since
Skyscanner has done so incredibly well, with 30 million visitors per month and billions of pounds in transactions. It was inspiring to hear his drive
and ambition to make the company Scotland’s first billion-dollar tech company.”
Belinda says she learned a lot from the Breakthrough event and has some tips of her own for fledgling entrepreneurs hoping to build the next great Scottish business. “Doing your research is absolutely key,” she says. “And doing your research does not mean speaking to family and friends, because for the most part they will be supportive of what you’re doing. So ask people who are objective and can give you an honest appraisal.” She adds: “Then I would say you should be prepared to take risks, but try to keep your cost-base to an absolute minimum when you are starting up. Because you’re so busy when you start up it’s very tempting to just go with the first offer you get and that can be a mistake.”
The Breakthrough Live team are creating more events aimed at ambitious entrepreneurs around the UK, so be sure to come along to the next event that takes place near you by visiting
www.santanderbreakthrough.co.uk
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